Tulsi Gabbard claimed she was on a terrorist watchlist. She’s now set to be the DNI
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President-elect Donald Trump's choice for the position of director of national intelligence has left the intelligence community in surprise.
Tulsi Gabbard, who served as a Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii until 2021 and ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, lacks any official background in intelligence. She has also stated that she is listed on a terror watchlist.
Last month, Gabbard revealed at a Trump rally that she was switching to the Republican Party. In September, she posted a video on X stating that she and her husband had been labeled as a "domestic terror threat" in July, which she attributed to her move toward more conservative views.
“Right before we were about to board our flight on July 23, my husband and I were asked to step aside for extra TSA checks,” Gabbard explained. “The TSA agent informed us that it was merely random selection. That might sound plausible if it had only happened once or twice. But after five, six, seven, or even eight times in a row? That's just not possible.”
"Whistleblowers from the federal air marshal service shared alarming details," she said. "They disclosed that I had been put on a hidden terror watchlist managed by the TSA, known as Quiet Skies, on July 23. Coincidentally, that was the same day my husband and I started experiencing extensive TSA searches."
Gabbard asserted that she was singled out due to her critiques of Vice President Kamala Harris.
"The TSA put me on the Quiet Skies domestic terrorism watchlist, which I can only call the biggest act of betrayal," she stated.
“The Harris-Biden administration has now classified me as a domestic terrorism risk. Why is that? They perceive me as a challenge to their authority,” she asserted.
The ex-congresswoman has frequently spoken out against U.S. military interventions and has been under fire for seemingly having a positive outlook on authoritarian figures such as Vladimir Putin from Russia and Bashar Al-Assad of Syria.
A former intelligence officer shared with Politico that the decision felt like a "sharp turn and a leap into the unknown." However, there were those who felt a sense of relief that Trump chose not to appoint Ric Grenell, his previous Ambassador to Germany, who also briefly held the position of acting Director of National Intelligence during Trump's first term in the White House.
Gabbard is likely to encounter challenging Senate confirmation hearings, especially from her former party members, as her perspectives on foreign policy diverge from the mainstream viewpoints of both political parties.
Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, she posted a video on X where she suggested that Russians, Ukrainians, and Americans should set aside their "geopolitical" concerns. She went on to claim that the conflict might have been prevented if the West had provided a promise that Ukraine would not be permitted to join NATO.
Gabbard has shown interest in conspiracy theories regarding the US's role in Ukraine. She has claimed that Ukraine is not worth defending since it is not a true democracy, and she has also seemed to support Russian assertions that US-funded laboratories in Ukraine could be working on chemical or biological weapons. However, she later clarified that she didn’t actually believe the labs were creating weapons; instead, she expressed concern about the potential release of “dangerous pathogens” from these facilities during the conflict. Meanwhile, Republican Senator and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized her for spreading what he called “treasonous lies,” a charge that she vehemently refuted.
The allegations concerning Ukraine resembled the claims found in Russian propaganda, which unfoundedly stated that the US was financing laboratories in Ukraine to develop illegal biological weapons intended for use against Russia.
While serving in Congress in 2017, she made a covert visit to meet Al-Assad, afterwards declaring that he isn't an "enemy" of the United States.
Having spent 17 years in the Hawaii National Guard, Gabbard later became a member of an Army reserve unit. She has mentioned that her deployments to the Horn of Africa, Kuwait, and Iraq led her to question the effectiveness of US military actions abroad.
A Western intelligence official expressed worries to Politico about the selection of Gabbard, suggesting that it could lead US allies to limit the information they provide to the United States.
"I believe that even Israel will have significant concerns, given that they are America's primary intelligence partner regarding terrorist threats," the official remarked to the publication. "To make matters worse, the information shared by some allies might now be influenced more by political motives than by genuine intelligence collaboration."
The position of the Director of National Intelligence was established following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Its role is to oversee and unify intelligence activities within the U.S. government and internationally.
In his announcement of Gabbard as his selection for the position, Trump mentioned that she has been “fighting for our nation and the rights of every American” for more than twenty years.
"I am confident that Tulsi will bring her bold and fearless attitude, which has characterized her successful career, to our Intelligence Community. She will advocate for our Constitutional Rights and promote Peace through Strength. Tulsi will make us all proud!" he continued.
Gabbard, one of the few Democratic House representatives who chose not to support Trump's impeachment in 2019 for misuse of power and hindering Congress, expressed her appreciation on X, stating that she was thankful to Trump “for the chance to be part of your cabinet and to help protect the safety, security, and freedoms of the American people.”
